Ronald Reagan warns of Donald Trump trade war tactic in speech from 1988

Reagan warns of ‘demagogues declaring trade wars’ in eerily prescient 1988 speech Source: Ronald Reagan Presidential Library

Transcript

00:00Part of the difficulty in accepting the good news about trade is in our words.

00:04We too often talk about trade while using the vocabulary of war.

00:09In war, for one side to win, the other must lose.

00:12But commerce is not warfare.

00:14Trade is an economic alliance that benefits both countries.

00:18There are no losers, only winners.

00:21And trade helps strengthen the free world.

00:24Yet today, protectionism is being used by some American politicians

00:28as a cheap form of nationalism, a fig leaf for those unwilling to maintain

00:32America's military strength and who lack the resolve to stand up to real enemies,

00:38countries that would use violence against us or our allies.

00:42Our peaceful trading partners are not our enemies.

00:44They are our allies.

00:46We should beware of the demagogues who are ready to declare a trade war against our friends,

00:51weakening our economy, our national security, and the entire free world.

00:56All while cynically waving the American flag.

01:00The expansion of the international economy is not a foreign invasion.

01:04It is an American triumph.